What Romelu Lukaku demanded from Antonio Rudiger as Chelsea summer transfer decision is made

Chelsea were not at their best against Crystal Palace. Much in the same way they weren't against Palmeiras during the Club World Cup final. Or in the semi-final against Al Hilal. Or in a multitude of the matches played by the Blues over the past two months.

In December, injuries and positive Covid cases were understandably blamed. Meanwhile, insipid performances in January were put down to squad fatigue, which was accepted given what had come before.

February was meant to be different, however. Not only had the majority of Chelsea's first-team squad enjoyed a week off due to the strangely-timed international break, but they had then flown out to Abu Dhabi for six days of warm-weather training in addition to competing for the honour of world champions.

And ahead of the trip to Selhurst Park, the Blues had enjoyed a full week of training at Cobham, so there was an expectation Chelsea would finally rediscover their spark.

It didn't happen. Christian Pulisic and N'Golo Kante had first-half chances while Antonio Rudiger came close with a fierce 25-yard drive, but that was Chelsea's lot in the opening period.

Things didn't improve after the break either until Thomas Tuchel rolled the dice and introduced Mateo Kovacic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Marcos Alonso from the bench with 18 minutes of the game remaining.

Kovacic's first act was to slide a pass beyond the Palace defend to Romelu Lukaku, whose powerful shot was only pushed into the path of Hakim Ziyech. VAR saved the Eagles on that occasion – Lukaku was caught offside in the build – but there was nothing to protect the Eagles in the 89th minute.

Alonso was given room to deliver a cross to the back post and there was Ziyech, who guided a volley beyond Palace goalkeeper